Author: Dennis Chapman
Published: October 1, 2012
Reading time: 2 minutes
This article is 12 years old.
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It’s not the usual area of legal articles, but it is worth a mention since it has a big bearing on the legal outcomes for many of our clients.
You will have all experienced good and bad customer service – the restaurant is a good example. You arrive but why is it taking so long to take you order? You order, but how does the waiter/waitress deal with your order – friendly, eye contact, humour, taking an interest or is it, ‘What do you want?’. You get the food but it’s not what you ordered, or it’s cold. You try to complain to the waiter/waitress ‘ nothing happens.
So where are the similarities with selling cars?
- Do you keep your customers hanging on, not talking to them, making them feel insignificant?
- Do you supply what they’ve asked for? Excuses when the advert says one thing and you’ve supplied something else?
- Do you take a pride in the quality or just avoid the customer if they have a complaint?
So often, if the customer has a bad experience they will escalate their complaint; Small Claims Court, write on a blog, become unreasonable, involve Trading Standards etc, etc. It’s worth remembering the saying, ‘Treat others as you’d like to be treated yourself.’
